MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Wetzel County Hospital in New Martinsville officially joined the West Virginia University Health System on July 1.
“We are excited to officially welcome Wetzel County Hospital into the WVU Medicine family and to continue our work serving the people of New Martinsville and the surrounding region,” Albert L. Wright, Jr., president and CEO of the WVU Health System, said. “During this unprecedented time, it is critically important to ensure that people have access to high quality healthcare in their communities, and we are honored to provide that service in Wetzel County.”
In January, Wetzel County Hospital signed a letter of intent to join the WVU Health System and a Certificate of Need (CON) application was filed with the West Virginia Health Care Authority. The CON was approved in April. At that time, the WVU Health System signed a long-term lease to assume operation of the hospital.
David Hess, M.D., will continue to serve as the CEO of Wetzel County Hospital as he has since October 2018 pursuant to WVU Hospitals’ management agreement with Wetzel County Hospital. Dr. Hess will also continue to serve as president and CEO of WVU Medicine Reynolds Memorial Hospital in Glen Dale.
“We are happy to welcome the WVU Health System into our community. Our area residents look forward to a new era of healthcare that will benefit generations to come,” Lawrence Lemon, president of the Wetzel County Commission, said. “We thank WVU for the investment, and we are better for it.”
Established in 1920, Wetzel County Hospital is a 58-bed facility that employs 235 people. It offers a variety of inpatient and outpatient services, including cardiopulmonary, emergency, general surgery, radiology, and cardiac rehabilitation, physical, occupational, and speech therapy.
The West Virginia University Health System, the state’s largest health system and largest private employer, is comprised of 12 hospitals – its flagship hospital, J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown; Berkeley Medical Center in Martinsburg; Braxton County Memorial Hospital in Gassaway; Camden Clark Medical Center in Parkersburg; Jackson General Hospital in Ripley; Jefferson Medical Center in Ranson; Potomac Valley Hospital in Keyser; Reynolds Memorial Hospital in Glen Dale; St. Joseph’s Hospital in Buckhannon; Summersville Regional Medical Center in Summersville; United Hospital Center in Bridgeport; and Wetzel County Hospital. It also provides management services to Barnesville Hospital in Barnesville, Ohio; Garrett Regional Medical Center in Oakland, Maryland; Harrison Community Hospital in Cadiz, Ohio; Highland-Clarksburg Hospital in Clarksburg; Uniontown Hospital in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and Wheeling Hospital in Wheeling. The WVU Health System also includes five institutes – the WVU Cancer Institute, the WVU Critical Care and Trauma Institute, the WVU Eye Institute, the WVU Heart and Vascular Institute, and the WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute.
For more information, visit WVUMedicine.org.